Shipping Internationally

I just received a query about a set in my inventory (sealed Cloud City) but the prospective buyer is located in Germany. He asked in addition to the shipping costs, what the taxes would be as well. I've never shipped anything this big/expensive to Germany before and after an online search found some calculators which indicate that imports into Germany face a "Duty tax" and something called "VAT". Punching in some numbers the calculator indicated that Duty tax would come to 4.7% and the VAT would be 19%. For a set like this the total customs fees total a little over 200 euro!

Is this correct? I don't want to reply to the buyer with false information. If this is true this seems very excessive. Thank you for any information you may provide.

Yes, this is correctBuyer from Europe faces an extra tax when buying from outside Europe.Germany's VAT is 19%, so if the parcel get caught (if you put the real value on the custom, which i recommend for a big set like that) he has to pay 19% extra on the amount, PLUS duty...But buyer should not ask you about the taxes, since he has to calculate the risk himself...

That is why for us European, it is quite difficult to buy BIG sets from the US or anywhere outside the European Union.

When i buy a bigger set, I ask kindly to get send to a friend inside the US, and when i travel out there I pick it up, or like now, he is coming over to Europe. (he is a really good friend ;) )

Wow.. just wow. I had no idea customs taxes were so high. I feel so sorry for anyone wanting to import the big retired sets. I'll let him know the shipping cost and quote him with that price since that is what I am responsible for. Sounds like he has to deal with the additional taxes on his own and is not something I include with my quote/invoice. Thank you for the great information! I have a feeling this deal won't go through :)

^ These aren't actually customs taxes, VAT is a sales tax. By buying from the US, someone is essentially avoiding paying sales tax, which is why it is added when imported. There are also customs taxes / duty in some countries too.

Don't forget, when importing in to the UK, you will also get a handling fee added if it gets processed by customs. I had the very painful experience of importing an expensive polybag bought from eBay, customs got hold of it and it had a couple of pounds VAT added and over £8 in handling fees! I still lose sleep over that one.

Yes, it is very annoying that import VAT (into the UK from outside Europe) is triggered for item values over £15. If I buy an item in, say, the US for £15.01 the hidden costs, not including shipping, can nearly double the price.

I am completely with you LegoFanTexas over the need to pay taxes and do not begrudge them in the slightest. There was a time when I lived outside the UK and paid income tax at a rate of 56%, but man, those social services were simply extraordinary.

For me, the only effect of taxes is that, at the margin, I will slightly modify my behaviour.

As I get older, every time I am tempted to do something a bit hooky over taxes I have sterner and sterner words with myself.

I've done many overseas shipments but never one the size of 15x4195. I can ship 6 sets with USPS (my usual and cheapest method) due to box size limitations. The order would take 3 shipments of 6, 6 and 3 sets respectively. Total shipping would run approximately $310.00 total. Anybody have experience with other shippers (UPS, FedEx, DHL) in shipping larger sized orders? Thanks in advance.

After a good bit of checking, I found a good shipping deal with the FedEx "Great Rates" program. For a 68# box (24x24x30 inches) the rate was $158.19 for International Priority or $129.64 for International Parcel. We went with the Priority as I will get a refund if they don’t delivery it on the date they said they would. I will drop the package off at the local FedEx shop and it will be delivered to my customers door. The "Great Rates" program is only available if you have an account with FedEx which is easy to set up. This is my first time using FedEx AND the Great Rates service. I must say that FedEx customer service has been very responsive in helping me through the "Shipment Manager" program that generates the necessary documents. I tried using this program once before for Australia but the rates could not beat USPS in that case. One other thing. This is not "sea mail" or container shipping. I will drop it off on 1 Nov and the guaranteed delivery date of 5 Nov. Hope this info helps others.

I have a pretty big pile of Count Dooku's Solar Sailer (7752) (~25) that I was attempting to sell to resellers in Germany when I was told by one of them that, due to the new Lucas Films agreement, it is illegal for resellers to import Star Wars sets in Europe...

I've been selling a few Lightning Dragon sets lately (#2521) and I just can't compete on postage with some of the other sellers. For a 2Kg packed set with shipping carton dimensions of 60cm x 50cm x 10cm I cannot get cheaper than about £28.50 using Transglobalexpress.org.uk for a UPS service (UPS directly is £56!). Royal Mail (tracked only within the UK) comes out at about £32.

I see others posting the same item (possibly in a smaller box - the Lego box itself is 48cm x 38cm x 7cm - presumably little or no protection used to achieve a shipping dimension close to this) to US for £14.99 and wonder how the hell they are doing it without making quite a loss on the shipping.

Anyone know of a cheaper (tracked) way of shipping a parcel as per my dimensions listed above from UK to US?

LFT: Someone might know a way, or maybe the £1499-ers are literally putting the Lego box in a plastic bag to keep costs down and hoping they won't get dented on the way over. Even with the actual Lego box dimensions, I can't see US/Canada shipping options for less than £23.

I have had more than a few enquiries about my sets but asking me why postage is so much when other UK sellers are putting them out for less postage. I showed them a photo of a shipping invoice to demonstare that I wasn't ripping them off on postage, and then point out that even with shipping I was still $50 cheaper with delivery than most US sellers. I had someone buy one at auction last night for £5.50 more than my "buy it now" price on another listing - crazy!

Personally, when I'm buying on ebay I always look at overall price not just the bid and maybe they think having a lower P&P cost will make people see them more favourably initially and they will end up recouping the difference in a slightly higher bid?

Or....the box is going to turned up smashed and they get complaints because it's wrapped in a plastic bag and a bit of bubble wrap?!

Isn't there a break point at 50cm? In the UK, many couriers have a price for maximum dimension under 50cm, and then either refuse over this, or charge more. Do you have an original lego shipping box? If so, these are normally 50cm long for a 48cm lego box, so just fit in this limit. I have a few for technic sets, but these are 50cm x 30cm x 30cm. So not big enough for your use.

No original shipping boxes unfortunately, just off the shelf purchases. Been using boxes acquired from Costco. Funnily enough, I got a slightly smaller box for one to ship - 55cm x 45cm x 10cm and it came out at £1.50 more than using a 60 x 50 x 10 box with the same carrier?!?!

What is the best/safest method for shipping worldwide through eBay? Where the seller is protected just in case the buyer claims that they did not receive the product. Just wanted to get some thoughts from those that sell in the US and ship worldwide. Thanks!

Whenever I ship worldwide through eBay, I always ship it registered mail which provides very safe and secure shipping and tracking.

Do you ship USPS? Priority or first class? Not familiar with how to do registered mail. It seems that USPS only has tracking information up until it enters the country and that's it.....which doesn't protect us if the buyer claims they haven't received the product

Whenever I ship worldwide through eBay, I always ship it registered mail which provides very safe and secure shipping and tracking.

Do you ship USPS? Priority or first class? Not familiar with how to do registered mail. It seems that USPS only has tracking information up until it enters the country and that's it.....which doesn't protect us if the buyer claims they haven't received the product

Yes, registered mail is USPS. I ship mine first class because I ship in "figure sized" boxes.

You do have to wrap your package in brown tape, as opposed to regular packing tape. At USPs, or at least mine, they let me use their brown tape. I simply tape up the box using standard clear packing tape, and than cover it up with brown tape when I get to the USPS.

You also have to fill out a registered mail form, which is as simple as "from/to".

Registered mail is under lock and key until it reaches its destination, where upon tracking notifies you that it has arrived at its destination.

^ I am not that experienced with selling, but have been selling internationally through eBay. I never had problems, until now. Two shipments (one to Portugal and one to the Netherlands) have not shown up and it has been about 40 days. I will have to refund the amount plus shipping and just hope that they eventually show up and the buyers are honest and kind enough to pay me back later if they do. I used insurepost.com to insure one of them for USPS first class...I will have to see how their claim process goes. So yeah, a risk...but profitable too potentially. I would love to hear what other's experience is.

Registered Mail is only a Domestic service, the OP wants to know about international shipping.

Registered Mail is not just a domestic service. It works for First Class International to most countries. It's about an additional $13 to ship - or at least it was before the last round of changes (I haven't looked to see if Registered Mail was impacted).

^ Yeah, I had seen that, but I don't see the opt-in options in my account (specifically the "Offer the Global Shipping Program" setting). I wasn't sure if the program had been suspended or not. Has anyone used it?

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prevereNorth of Bellville, East of Heartlake, South of Bricksburg, West of Ninjago City MemberPosts: 2,892

I have purchased a lot of Lego sets from Amazon FR, ES, DE & UK. One thing I have found is that shipping charges are all over the place.

Most recently amazon.co.uk have the Technic Helicopter #9396 purchasing one of these has a £11.03 shipping charge, if I order 5 of these sets it increases to £11.17, a whole 14p more. The Goblin King Battle #79010 on the other hand is £16.73 for one & £39.68 for 5. #9396 is actually 300 grams heavier then #79010 and they are both in the same size box.

Another experience a while ago was with amazon.de and the Red and Yellow cargo trains, postage was just about double for the yellow train.

I would have thought that Amazon would have a better system for calculating postage. Such as each item they sell has its weight and box dimensions entered in the system and some algorithm spits out a postage charge.

First question I would have to ask is are you sure it was all coming from Amazon themselves and not another company..ie Amazon EU S.a.r.L. is the seller name for Amazon themselves. anything else and its a third party shop which means you don't get the free supersaver postage offers or stuff like that.

Brickset.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, the Amazon.com.ca, Inc. Associates Program and the Amazon EU Associates Programme, which are affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.